The impact of working under hazardous conditions is typically mitigated through the use of a hard-shell helmet or other protective headgear, commonly known as hard hats. Such headgear typically includes a rounded dome shaped portion and a circumferential bill projecting outwardly from the lowermost portion of the dome. When not worn, transportation and storage of headgear is relatively cumbersome. If the owner elects to hand carry the headgear to another location, only one hand remains free. If the headgear is temporarily set down it may be forgotten. Some owners elect to clip their hard hat to their belt but this allows the helmet to swing freely continuously bumping into the wearer. Merely throwing the headgear into a bag uses up most of the space in the bag and due to the helmet's configuration, presents an awkward carrying device. If such bag is a backpack, the helmet will dig into the wearer's back causing discomfort.
To date, backpack construction has not focused on facilitating the transportation of such headgear. One exception can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,408 to Miner et al. Such backpack includes a helmet receiving pocket with a soft or hard shell and a backing for carrying conventional motorcycle type helmets. However, when the helmet is inserted into the helmet receiving pocket, it takes up most of the useable space of the pack and the user is forced to place additional items into either relatively small wallet sized pockets or within the confines of the helmet.
Another example of a specialized backpack for carrying a hardshell is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,348. This backpack includes an aerodynamically configured hollow shell and a hinged lid. A pair of shoulder straps support the backpack on the user while a number of pads keep the main body of the backpack off the user's back allowing some air to pass therethrough when performing such activities as cycling. Due to the rigid shell, this backpack does not readily store in a reduced profile configuration and the aerodynamic configuration restricts available carrying capacity and the shape of the stored materials.
What is needed and heretofore unavailable, is a backpack providing significant carrying capacity adapted to carry a helmet or other headgear yet capable of being stored in a relatively small area when not in use.